


Worth It

by sourwulfur



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hugs, I don't know, Multi, Sterek if you squint, derek needs more hugs, hugs are powerful, just a short one shot, more like pre-slash, something that's been flying around my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 04:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourwulfur/pseuds/sourwulfur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles, finally letting himself think on the fact that <i>Derek died</i> finds himself going out to the old Hale house after a day of recuperating from the events at the hotel. When he finds Derek there, well, he's not sure whether to be relieved or pissed off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> I know everyone and their brother has done this scenario already; but, I wanted to have a go at it. So, tada.

It was raining again. Stiles guessed that was fine and dandy. It fit his mood. After that whole experience at the hotel. He spent the night at Scott's after they got home, and then he went to his own house only to find that his father was not there, again. He understood. The sheriff was a busy man, after all. It gave Stiles time to think, however; mostly on the fact that _Derek was dead_. Stiles no longer had the cross-country meet or Scott's injuries to push his thoughts toward so that fact was more at the forefront of his mind than it had been before.

 

Stiles had a hard time adjusting to that. After everything they had been through so far, Derek was _dead_. That time, Stiles had not even been there to try to save his ass. A soft, bitter sounding laugh passed his lips at that thought, and the teen glanced up at the remains of the Hale house as it loomed in front of him from underneath the edge of his hood. The teen was not exactly sure why he was there, but he carefully and quietly made his way inside the remnants of the old family home, pushing the hood down off of his head after getting inside.

 

There were still places in which water leaked in from holes in the roof, but Stiles was not really focused on that. The last time he had been to the Hale house, it had been with Scott and Derek the day that Derek had helped with Scott's tattoo. It seemed like much longer ago than it had really been and Stiles could practically hear his own voice echoing throughout the room. “ _I missed you_ ,” Stiles had said, earning himself a shocked expression from the alpha werewolf. After a moment, Derek had nodded and started to say something else in response, but Scott woke up, then and their few minute long conversation came to an end.

 

Stiles tensed when he heard a floorboard creaking behind him. He was supposed to be alone there. Scott was spending some time with Isaac and Allison. No one else knew where he was going. Stiles grabbed a piece of wood from near-by, it looked like it used to belong to a staircase, and he spun around as he swung, but the other person in the room stopped it before it hit them. Stiles dropped the weak weapon and took a stumbling step back when he realized that it was _Derek_ standing there, brow risen in a mix of amusement and questioning. “Holy god,” Stiles breathed, taking a few moments to steady himself before taking a few steps forward and punching Derek across the face. “Ow, shit!” Stiles groaned as he held his wrist with the other hand before looking back to Derek with a glare. “You fucking asshole. We thought you were dead!”

 

Derek let out a deep breath through his nose, dropping aside the piece of wood while reaching up with his other hand to rub his jaw where Stiles' fist had connected. “I know,” replied Derek, nodding a little, which only made Stiles glare at him harder before shoving him backwards. Derek, unprepared for that response, stumbled back a few steps before catching himself on one of the walls. “What the hell, Stiles?”

 

“Do you even _know_ what the fuck we've gone through while you were...? You better have a fucking good excuse, Hale, or I’ll...” Stiles clenched his jaw, not even able to come up with an adequate threat. “Boyd nearly drowned himself. Isaac spend the night terrified out of his mind underneath a bed. Scott nearly caught himself and me on fucking fire.”

 

Derek’s brow furrowed as he listened to Stiles, tensing as he watched the teen struggle with his emotions. “What are you talking about Stiles?”

 

“Wolfsbane! They were poisoned with wolfsbane, and there was almost a lot of death, okay? Just... Derek, what _happened_ to you? Scott swore you were dead.” Stiles' brow furrowed a little as he tried to figure out whether the Derek standing in front of him was real or not. The pain in his hand as he flexed his fingers was basically a good answer to that, anyway.

 

“I was as good as,” replied Derek, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was looking for you afterward; you, Scott, Isaac... someone. None of you were at the school.”

 

“School trip. We couldn't exactly not go with the excuse of your death, though that trip was the last thing any of us wanted to do.” Stiles shook his head, running both hands through his hair in a way that practically made the strands stand on end.

 

Stiles listened silently as Derek explained what had happened, how he had barely made it to the school. After that, Derek only vaguely remembered Jennifer helping him get back to the loft. He did not miss the way that Stiles' jaw clenched at that information. He did not go into details about what had happened, but that she did not leave until after he finally healed. “So, why didn't you come find us then?” questioned Stiles, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

 

“You were gone Stiles. I did not know when you were coming back,” Derek replied, a slightly tense edge to his voice. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

 

“Yeah, I was gone; to a killer motel that has the highest rate of suicides like ever. Boyd nearly killed himself because of the damn wolfsbane, and Scott too. He blamed himself for your _death_ ,” Stiles said, pushing Derek once again with a punch to his shoulder at the word, “on top of everything else. I only talked him out of it by telling him he'd have to kill me too.” Derek tensed once again as Stiles explained in more detail about what had happened, the alpha's eyes not leaving Stiles for a moment. “Isaac relived something that was terrible. I don't know details, but Scott was pretty damn worried.”

 

A shadow seemed to pass over Derek’s expression, something that did not go unnoticed by Stiles, though the teen did not say anything about it. They just stood there in a tense silence, Derek feeling guiltier about not following his first thoughts of finding everyone the longer they stood there. After a long few minutes, Stiles let out a heavy, slightly unsteady breath that caused Derek’s gaze to snap back to the teen. “I'm glad you're okay,” Stiles said, quietly to the point that even Derek almost missed the words. “Just... don't do that again. You can't do shit like that to me.”

 

“To you?” questioned Derek, his brow raising just enough to let Stiles know that the statement confused the man more than his voice let on.

 

“Yes, I mean. Did you even stop to think how you dying would make the rest of us feel?” Stiles' voice held every ounce of exasperation that he felt as he lifted his hands slightly before letting them fall back against his sides.

 

Derek subtly lifted one shoulder in a shrug, an action that Stiles would have missed if he was not _watching_ for a response. “I didn't think anyone would care.”

 

Stiles laughed, the sound slightly broken and disbelieving as the teen shook his head. “Of course we'd _care_ , Derek. I’ve not spent all this time saving your ass only to not care if you actually died. I don't know how I got from being terrified of you to actually _worrying_ , but y'know, stranger things have happened.”

 

“Stiles...” Derek said with a sigh, and the teen could already practically hear the guy telling him to go home.

 

“No.” Stiles crossed his arms over his chest, jaw set in a firm line. “None of this shoving people away crap. You think it will protect them, but it won't. We're still targets, you dumbass, and no safer than if we all work together.” Derek narrowed his eyes a little at Stiles, but the teen ignored it and continued talking. “There's more than just the alphas going on, and you know it. This is... this is _big_ , okay? People are going to get hurt, and we need to figure out what's going on. Oddly enough, we can't do this without you. _I_ can't do this without you.”

 

Derek’s expression softened a little, though his jaw remained set firm and his stance steady. Stiles almost thought that he would run at any moment. He certainly looked like he was fighting the urge to run toward the door. “Okay.”

 

“What?” Stiles' brow furrowed as he looked back to Derek, almost taking a step back in shock.

 

“I said 'okay',” the alpha replied with an overly dramatic roll of his eyes. That really had to be some kind of Hale trait or something. “I've made... a few mistakes lately; but, we'll figure this out.”

 

Stiles laughed softly, the sound more honest and relieved than it had been once that evening, and a slow smile spread across his mistakes. “Yeah, alright. First off, though, we gotta let everyone know you're alive, man. They need to know.”

 

Derek nodded a little in response before jerking his head toward the door in indication that they should head out. Stiles started to follow, but then took a few quick steps to close the distance between them and pull Derek into a tight hug. The man was sure that if Stiles was even slightly stronger, it would actually be a quite painful grip. He was not exactly sure how to respond to the hug, just kind of standing there with his arms at his sides. Nobody had actually hugged him in _years_. Laura had been the last one, just before she had left for Beacon Hills.

 

A hug, oddly enough and simple as it was, made Derek feel a hundred times better than he had felt in _weeks_. It was simple, and did not expect any sort of response. There were no demands. It was just... there, and more reassuring than any of the touches he had received lately. Derek did not want to think about that, though, and he slowly returned the hug. Stiles must not have expected that because he tensed a little when Derek’s arms first wrapped around his waist, almost as if he expected the alpha to tug him off or something. Then, Stiles relaxed once again, ducking his head to rest his forehead against Derek’s shoulder. “If you ever actually die,” Stiles said after a few minutes, “I will find a way to bring you back just to kill you myself.”

 

Derek let out a huff of air that was almost a laugh before he finally pulled away. “I'll ask Peter the details for you,” the man replied, smirking a little when Stiles hit his shoulder in response. “Keep doing that and you'll break your hand.”

 

Stiles shrugged a little as the two of them finally started outside. It had stopped raining. “Yeah, well... worth it.”


End file.
